


Some Consequence Yet Hanging in the Stars

by chirpsichore



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Content Warning: Blood, F/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, away mission, mutual pining IF YOU SQUINT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chirpsichore/pseuds/chirpsichore
Summary: Nothing like a light scratch to remind you of the inevitability of death. On an away mission gone wrong, Shiro sees Allura bleed for the first time.
Relationships: Allura & Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	Some Consequence Yet Hanging in the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> A short fic inspired by (I think?) "Where's My Love" by SYML. I don't know, guys, I wrote this years ago and wanted to put something on AO3.

What is supposed to be a routine supply mission finds Shiro and Allura stumbling through a desert-dormant forest at dusk, scratched up from a run-in with the local apex predator and still kilometers from the shuttle pod.  


He has seen Allura injured before, of that he is sure. Exhausted of all energy from ripping tear after tear in the fabric of the universe, she has collapsed more times than he can count. Sometimes he even caught her as she fell. Not every time. Then there had been that terrifying incident when the Castle of Lions downloaded an extrastellar virus that Allura unwittingly contracted. During her protracted illness he had not slept at all, and for weeks afterward he still woke up in a sweat dreaming about it. She has been hurt before.  


But Shiro never has seen her bleed before. It is not a serious wound, just a cut on her temple that only bleeds so easily because it is so shallow. By the time they make it to shelter the cut has already scabbed over. He still does not want her passing out from blood loss, however, so he retrieves a roll of bandages from his side pockets. Hunk had made sure every paladin had a roll on their person after the embarrassing and surprisingly gory debacle involving Lance and a pointy stick that turned out to be some kind of unholy alien phasmid. When Shiro reaches out to assess the damage, he starts at the blood and lets out a small gasp in shock.  


“What is it?” Allura asks sharply, one eye closed to prevent blood from dripping onto her cornea. “What’s wrong?”  


He busies himself with unspooling a length of gauze, covering his slip. As a general rule he avoids showing Allura any emotion that he cannot reasonably explain away as mere camaraderie.  


“Nothing,” he says quickly. “It’s only...we bleed the same. Red blood, I mean. It runs through my veins too.”  


He does not know why that is shocking, or even important. We’re all made of the same cosmic dust anyway, why does blood matter? But something about seeing Allura, this dazzling being from the other side of the universe, bleed like he does sends an eerie sensation creeping up his spine. Death can yet touch her. Huddled and hurt under an alien sky he feels the immense indifference of the stars bearing down on both of them.  


Allura sucks in a breath and her ears flick forward. “Well, that’s a relief. I am not easily nauseated, but if you humans all had violet blood I fear I simply could not handle it.”  


Shiro looks at her in surprise again, eyes wide. After a second both of them burst into laughter. It goes on for some time, until Shiro makes them sober up because Allura’s wound has opened again and he really needs to bandage her up before it gets any worse. With gentle fingers he eases the bandage over the cut and presses down to staunch the hemorrhaging. Allura closes both of her eyes at his touch. Once he has stopped the bleeding he winds the remaining length of gauze around her forehead, gently lifting her hair to bind it more securely. He sits back on his heels to survey his handiwork.  


“Even without a cryopod, you should be healed as good as new in a day or so. That cut only looks bad,” he assures her.  


She opens her eyes slowly, as if awakened from a reverie. Noticing a dried fleck of blood under her eyebrow, Shiro puts his hand on the side of her face and rubs the fleck off with his thumb. Her eyes never leave his.  


Allura sways forward ever so slightly. Her lips are parted.  


Shiro takes her gently by the shoulders and props her upright. He says softly, “Princess, I think you may be dizzy from the blood loss.”  


She blinks at him as he begins to rummage through his pockets. A little too frantically, he knows, but his hand has started to tremble. He says, “Hold on, I know I have some iron tablets in here—somewhere…”  


Allura shakes her head, then winces at the unwise choice of movement. “Whatever that spell was, I believe it has passed now. Really, I’m fine.” She settles for waving her hand instead. She will not look him in the eye.  


“Come on, princess. I might not be your superior officer, but I won’t have any soldiers fainting on my watch. Aha!” he cries as he draws an iron mineral supplement from his pouch.  


As she mumbles a weary thanks Allura accepts the tablet. Shiro watches her out of the corner of his eye, making sure the princess actually consumes the supplement and wondering. What exactly just happened back there? Or, more accurately, did not happen?  


He wonders all the way back to the shuttle pod.  


In the unrelenting eye of a new dawn the stars wink out above them one by one.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from _Romeo and Juliet_ I.iv.107-114.


End file.
